Tea Party Caucus Takes $1 Billion In Earmarks

By Reid Wilson

+

James Manship reads from the U.S. Constitution during a Tea Party Patriots rally on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol on Election Day.(Rod Lamkey /Getty Images)

Most offices did not respond right away to a request for comment. Those that did said they supported Republicans' new efforts to ban earmarks.
Alexander, for one, "stands with his fellow Republicans in the House in supporting the current earmark ban. Since joining the Tea Party Caucus in July, he has not submitted any earmark requests and has withdrawn his outstanding requests that were included in the most recent Water Resources Development Act," said Jamie Hanks, his communications director.
Rep. Gregg Harper (R-Miss.), who requested 25 earmarks in the last Fiscal Year at a total cost of just over $80 million, has agreed to abide by the Republican earmark ban, according to spokesman Adam Buckalew. "He supported the moratorium and the prohibition adopted recently by the Conference on House earmarks for the 112th Congress," Buckalew said of Harper.
"It's easy to be a member of the TEA Party Caucus because, like them, I agree that we're Taxed Enough Already and we've got to balance the budget by cutting spending instead of raising taxes. Deficit spending is not new, but the unprecedented rate of spending in Congress is," Rehberg said in a statement emailed by his office. "Montanans have tightened their belts, and it's way past time for Congress to follow their lead. The TEA Party Caucus is about listening to concerned Americans who want to fundamentally change how Congress spends their tax dollars. On that, we're in total agreement."
Bachmann's office did not respond to emails or phone calls seeking comment.
Still, some Republicans -- albeit none who belong to the Tea Party caucus -- have said they will not abide by the voluntary earmark ban. And, said CAGW's Williams, the anti-spending organization isn't waiting with bated breath.
"Seeing is believing. It's going to take a lot more than rhetoric to convince us," he said.
A list of Tea Party Caucus members and their earmark requests in Fiscal Year 2010, courtesy of Citizens Against Government Waste's Pig Book: